July 2004

While standing in the check-out line of a grocery store the other day, I remembered that the new issue of Wired might feature a review of The BLDGBLOG Book.

And, lo! In a moment of brief mania, I saw that The BLDGBLOG Book is right there on on p. 66. As a very long-term reader of Wired – since at least 1995 – it's hard to exaggerate how cool it was to see that, especially as it's still hard to believe that the book has really been published and that it actually will be out on people's shelves this summer. So what does Wired think of The BLDGBLOG Book?

Geoff Manaugh's long-form riff on his building blog skips through Soviet sleep labs, sound-sensitive rice genes, transborder mazes, and the life of a sewer-spelunker. His energy and imagination make him an excellent tour guide: Manaugh sees architecture – past, future, and fantasy – through an arts-and-culture lens. By pondering how humans shape the environment with, say, fiction or film, he turns his enthusiasm into our own.

So exciting to see that! Meanwhile, if you'll excuse this obvious commercial interlude, the book is beginning to get good reviews from sources as diverse as Sunset magazine and Joerg Colberg's widely-read photography blog, Conscientious. Allison Arieff, Editor-at-Large of Sunset and author of the New York Times blog By Design, writes:

Trapped icebergs, Dollywood, fossil rivers, and the "undiscovered bedrooms of Manhattan." These are just a few of the million preoccupations writer/blogger Geoff Manaugh explores in The BLDGBLOG Book, just published by Chronicle Books. Driven by unfettered curiosity, Manaugh delves into pet obsessions including but not limited to 19th century paintings of ruins, the architecture of video games, the Garden Museum of London, and storms on demand... Highly recommended reading.

The book itself starts shipping in North America on June 10, I believe, and a bit later – in early July - in the UK and Australia. Amazon has it for sale at a pretty steep discount right now, so definitely take advantage of the price and preorder a copy soon – that, or order the book directly through Chronicle. Finally, I hope to have information about some public events that will take place around the book release coming up soon. And, of course, expect more info about the book itself. So thanks again to everyone who's seen and reviewed the book so far!

The book will definitely be available through amazon.co.uk - in fact, you can already preorder the book through them - but I don't know that we will have intra-European distribution. Amazon.co.uk will ship there, though...

Hope you can find a copy! In fact, I hope venues like the NAi might pick it up in their shop.

Glen, can't wait for you to see a copy! It will have distribution in Australia starting around late July, I believe.

About BLDGBLOG

BLDGBLOG ("building blog") is written by Geoff Manaugh. The opinions expressed here are my own; they do not reflect the views of my friends, editors, employers, publishers, or colleagues, with whom this blog is not affiliated. More.